Facebook is helping people smugglers to lure migrants ‘to their deaths’ in the Mediterranean, Britain’s top law enforcement agency warned yesterday.

The National Crime Agency said the tech giant was failing to stop adverts being posted by criminals on the social network offering boats, transport services or documents to help facilitate the dangerous crossing from North Africa to Europe.

Tom - Dowdall - NCA - Deputy - Director

Tom Dowdall, the NCA’s deputy director, said migrants were often recruited through Facebook.

Mr Dowdall added: ‘Since December 2016, we have identified over 800 Facebook pages which we consider as being associated with organised immigration crime. That is largely offering vessels, documents, transport services. There is enough we are seeing to indicate to us that it supports criminality.

Pages - Instructions - Board - Boats - Hundreds

Some pages give instructions on where to meet to board dangerous boats, on which hundreds of migrants have drowned this year.

Earlier this year, the Mail revealed how Facebook was being used to peddle black market passports. The revelations follow previous outrage about the social media behemoth being used as a platform for terror videos.

Firm - Backlash - Handling - News - Privacy

The firm has faced a backlash for its handling of fake news and privacy, and last month shares tumbled by more than 20 per cent after Facebook’s revenue and user growth fell short of investor expectations.